Day One

Day One
High drama on the highway.


We finally managed to get everything in the house finished by midnight and fell into bed.
Up at 3am to get to the Chunnel by 5.20am. Bid a fond farewell to our house, “Goodbye house”, and hoped the roof would not cave in, the windows wouldn’t fall out and we wont be returning to a smouldering ruin filled with the charred remains of holidaymakers. (Well you can’t help worrying can you)!
Our aim was to get a good run at the first days driving. An overnight in Frankfurt, and arrive in The Dolomites on day two.
Our lovely neighbour Ann (hello Ann) was on the drive in her PJs to wave us off.
Headed down to Stokes bay for a last glance of our favourite view and were immediately hit with torrential rain, high winds and crashing waves all over our Wang and us. Enough to make you turn around and dive back under the Duvet.
Momentum got the better of us and we pressed ahead anyway.
A bit of trial a by fire for my first go at towing a carawang but the roads were blissfully quiet and we made it to the Chunnel by the skin of our teeth without any casualties. Despite the wind and rain swaying us like a drunken conga line all the way there.

The tunnel is a marvel and the three of us couldn’t be more exited if we were shot into space.
Quick as a flash and smooth as a knife through hot butter were heading through France, into Belgium and on our way to Germany. Tooling along while Kraftworks Trans Europe express boomed from our fab new in car music system from the modern marvel that is the ipod, what joy.
Thanks to the miracle (still new to us) of satnav we never had to look at the map once. A very bossy tart voices her but she kept us straight, no mean feat.
Stopped for our fist taste of continental grub in Belgium and filled our boots with a Full English breakfast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Made it to within 1.8 kilometres (read it and weep that’s only one mile) of our first overnight when
B A N G
The nearside tyre on the Wang shredded to black dust.
If we had still been on the Autobarn I cant imaging what would have happened.
As it was we were going very slowly down a steep hill on a narrow road. Safe??
Called the RAC who would be with us in 45 mins. Meanwhile lots of lovely Germans stopped to ask if they could help. Including two very rosy farm boys.
Every cloud has a silver lining.Finally got here (a lovely wooded site in a ravine by the Rhine) an hour later 5.30 pm and set up the Wang for the fist time. Had a lovely piece of Swinefliche mit salad and a well deserved early night. We would not have slept so well had we known what day two had in store.